The Seance
The Cycles of the Ritual In the final days of every decade the Ghosts hold a special event. Only the members of the Chapter and honoured invitees may attend. All the Ghosts who are not away on missions at the time gather at the Tombstone on Mormark. The event is opened by the Chapter Master or in his absence, the Captain of the First company. If the Captain of the First company cannot be present - or he already opened the previous year - then the next Captain in line shall begin the ceremony, and so on. Guests may attend and invitations are sent early so there is time for them to respond and arrive. Unless the invitation says otherwise they usually attend the first or the last day of the celebration, because the other days are very private for the Chapter. DAY 1 Opening Feast The Chapter Master addresses his people. He might just welcome the brothers attending and get on with the feast. He might address an issue that disturbs the marines. He might give praise for an operation. DAY 2 The Day of Grievances. The Book of the Glorious Dead will be read out and new names will be added to it. Common mourning will follow. DAY 3 The Day of Remembrance The Chapter's good, bad, and memorable deeds will be remembered. All the atrocities that have to be avenged, all the battles lost, all the battles won, all the worlds saved, all the foes defeated. Also, a particularly important event if something gets crossed off from the Book of Deeds. If something has already been marked in the book as a failure that must not be forgotten, then those things can also be crossed out. Once the Ghosts did something, that warrants as an absolution for the mistake, they cross the mistake out, write in the book how they have dealt with it. One of the most notable mentions of this would be the Desecration of Prothera, where chaos marines broke the weather cathedrals of the planet, placing one of the major food providers of the sector, in great peril . The Ghosts not just failed to protect the planet, but also failed to apprehend the traitors. However, the space marines didn't gave up. They have traveled to Mars, to find replacements to the cathedrals, stopping the permanent scarring of the planet, and killed the responsible sorcerer, destroying his warband and lair. DAY 4 The Day of Resolve Every marine can make an Oath, a personal one. Either privately, or publicly. A young initiate may swear that he will train hard, so one day he can enter the Shadow Guard. A marine may make a promise that he will preform better to become the best in his squad. Everyone can do this ritual, from the newest recruit, to the Chapter Master. Those who accomplished their Oath, publicly making the promise, are celebrated and generally held in higher regard. DAY 5 The Day of Rising Initiates, who completed their training, are officially accepted as members. They get dressed in their power armours for the occasion, and one by one the Chapter Master, or the Captain of their company calls them out, by name and investitures their helmet. Initiates who couldn't make it for the occasion either because they are away on duties or because they didn't live to see this day, have their helmets taken over by their respective Company representative. (Which means the captain, or the next highest ranked marine in the Company) DAY 6 The Day of the Worthy On this day, official medals, and promotions are given, and of course the Closing Feast at the end of the day. This concludes the end of the Seance. Gameplay Consequences Here is what the Seance is trying to achieve game-wise. - A yearly roll for morale bonus, or against morale loss. Might be denied, or enhanced, depending how the chapter preformed that year - Generally cull the influence of the cults, and lessen the number of marines who would join them. In a strictly non-aggressive way. Just show that that you don't need cliques to be cool, accepted. -Generally unfiy the Chapter, keep separatism at bay, resolve conflicts between individual marines -Chance to call guests, make talks and diplomatic relations -Chance to promote/reward NPCs Category:Chapter Lore